Thursday, 26 February 2009

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Title: Jellicoe Road (or On The Jellicoe Road if you live in Australia)Author: Melina MarchettaSummary:"What do you want from me?" he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.

Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.

In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.

Well, I'm going to start of the review by first of all saying that I think this book is absolutely amazing, I think it actually might be my favourite book right now (it may even beat Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska on my favourite books ever, or at the very least, it ties with them) and trust me that my review of it probably won't even begin to do the book justice. Even the summary doesn't sum it up all that well.

The whole plot is just so amazingly thought out and when I was done reading I was just like "wow!", because it's hard to think how it's possible that an author can come up with a story so complex, split it into pieces and arrange it in such a way that it all comes back together in the end.

I love the way it's written (although, it did take a chapter or two to sort of feel comfortable with the style but once you do it's brilliant) and the characters are really awesome, some of them --most of them-- are so broken but still so real, and it's practically impossible not to care about them.

You should know that it's REALLY confusing at first though -- it's like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle when you don't have all the pieces, so you just keep guessing what the bigger picture is (and you might guess right, I did, mostly) but all the little pieces keep coming together pretty much right up until the very end of the book and loose ends come together that you didn't even realise were there. But when the main confusing part is out of the way (about 50 pages in? was when I went from just liking it to being totally hooked) then it's totally awesome.

With this book I got that feeling, you know, where you just get so caught up in the story that it seems so real and you get that feeling in your chest letting you know that you really care about what happens to these characters? That hasn't happened like that since reading Looking for Alaska (well, it happened with Paper Towns too, but not as intense) and that feeling is the reason I love reading in the first place, so, safe to say Jellicoe Road = win. :]

If you decide to read it, trust me, even if you're confused as hell at first, it does all eventually come together make sense -- if you like books like John Green's books where they're about friendship and mystery and have romance there too and they really make you think about life, then you'll probably like it.

I think it's one of those books that is probably more awesome the second time you read it because you won't have all the initial confusion anymore and you can pick up on things you didn't notice the first time cause you were so distracted trying to figure it out.

Melina Marchetta's other books are now so on my to read list.

Later.

P.s. I made some fan art for the book here and here and I posted one of my favourite quotes from the book on my tumblr

I agree totally with what you said, it is a fantastic novel, one that just stays with you long after you finish reading it. Melina Marchetta is a fantastic author and she has a new novel out called Finnikin of the rock, its something new for Marchetta as it is a kind of fantasy novel. I havn't read it but it is on my TBR pile. Happy reading!

I actually just googeled Jellicoe Road because I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on. [I'm on page 27]. Your review has got me all hopeful, especially since you mentioned John Green and I absolutely ADORE his style. Also, you might wanna read I am Messenger by Markus Zusak cause it's a lot like John Green as well. Very beautifully written.oh and if you have other great books please email suggestions at nitasha_b@yahoo.comthank you!